ImagesBrighton pictures of the week 23-5-2005

IMAGESBRIGHTON photography by david gray
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	P I C T U R E S O F T H E W E E K 2 3 - 5 - 2 0 0 5

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He may have died when Jim Callaghan was Prime Minister and most of today's pop stars had not even been born, but Elvis Presley lives on as one of most profitable commodities in show business. His records have spent longer in the UK album and singles charts than anyone else (2,463 weeks) and his former wife Priscilla has been mobbed as she promoted her recent book about him. There is an army of Elvis impersonators and his Graceland home is a place of pilgrimage on a par with most religious shrines outside Mecca. This week's pictures show how he has become an iconic artefact used to sell everything from Chinese meals to fairground rides. His name is among the select few, including Hitler, Freud, Mao and Thatcher, who are recognised by a single word. One wonders whether his popularity would have been so universally assured if his mum had called him Frank.

Elvis cut-out model complete with lei and admiring Betty Boop in a Brighton shop in May 2005 (image 2610-43)

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